"I See Dead Buffalos"

It's a safe bet that buffalo never roamed the island of Manhattan. But don't tell that to David Mamet, the playwright who first brought American Buffalo to Broadway in 1977 and then again in 1983. The highly charged drama, which follows a day in the life of three questionable characters plotting to steal a buffalo nickel, is back on the Great White Way, this time, starring Cedric the Entertainer, John Leguizamo and Haley Joel Osment. Proving that hell hath no fury like a two-bit criminal scorned, the three characters treat one another with equal parts respect, cruelty and distrust, thoroughly plumbing the depths of the tinderbox mind. All three actors deliver highly charged performances, particularly Leguizamo, whose profane energy electrifies the stage. And the man born Cedric Antonio Kyles, who appears here in his Broadway debut, gives his character a healthy quantum of conscience to offset his character's otherwise surly ways. If you've got at least 1,330 nickels to rub together (tickets start at $66.50) and a high tolerance for vulgar language, get yourself to American Buffalo, which opens this evening at the Belasco Theatre. You'll never look at coin-collecting the same way.